Assessment of fabric comfort based on finger sensitivity

Assessment of fabric tactile comfort by humans is subjected to many influencing factors including finger sensitivity of the assessors. In previous research, a group of panel members with finger sensitivity between 0.60 to 1.80 mm discrimination performance were selected to perform a fabric handle measurement. A tool called JVP Domes was employed for the measurement of finger sensitivity. In this work, we aim to analyze the influence of the range of finger sensitivity towards the fabric handle assessment. Three groups of assessors based on their finger sensitivity were formed i.e. 0.60-1.00, 1.01-1.20, and 1.21-1.50 mm, in order to investigate the consistency of the results for the measurement of smoothness, softness and warmth attributes. No significant differences were found between the scores from the three groups. This proves that sensitivity up to 1.50 mm is acceptable for assessors. We propose that the selection of panel members based on finger sensitivity is the best way to select people for tactile related assessment, as opposed to other methods

A comprehensive approach for human hand evaluation of split or large set of fabrics

Assessment of fabric handle relies on the feel of humans. The precision of the results greatly depends on the size of the fabric sets. The precision decreases with increasing number of samples as a consequence of assessors' fatigue and loss of concentration. Given the importance of handle assessment and in the absence of guidelines that assist assessment of large sample sets, this study proposes a comprehensive approach for testing large sets of fabrics by dividing them into several testing sessions, each of 10 samples at most. In the proposed way, tests can also be split over different panels, even at different locations, provided the panel accuracy is verified beforehand. The method to select the panel members, link the results obtained in different sessions and normalize the data are discussed in this paper. The proposed method was tested on 13 fabrics. Three fabric sensorial attributes (i.e. smoothness, softness and warmth) were assessed in two sessions by a panel consisting of 28 blindfolded members or assessors. Good agreement was found between the panel members for fabric smoothness and softness but the warmth of the fabrics was judged differently as shown by high disagreements between panel members. No significant origin-, gender- or age-based differences on the judgements were found. The findings of this test study are in agreement with previous studies where well-established assessment methods (i.e. instrumental methods or human panels on a smaller dataset) were applied and suggest that the proposed method can be successfully applied to assess large sets of fabrics

A review of contemporary techniques for measuring ergonomic wear comfort of protective and sport clothing

Protective and sport clothing is governed by protection requirements, performance, and comfort of the user. The comfort and impact performance of protective and sport clothing are typically subjectively measured, and this is a multifactorial and dynamic process. The aim of this review paper is to review the contemporary methodologies and approaches for measuring ergonomic wear comfort, including objective and subjective techniques. Special emphasis is given to the discussion of different methods, such as objective techniques, subjective techniques, and a combination of techniques, as well as a new biomechanical approach called modeling of skin. Literature indicates that there are four main techniques to measure wear comfort: subjective evaluation, objective measurements, a combination of subjective and objective techniques, and computer modeling of human–textile interaction. In objective measurement methods, the repeatability of results is excellent, and quantified results are obtained, but in some cases, such quantified results are quite different from the real perception of human comfort. Studies indicate that subjective analysis of comfort is less reliable than objective analysis because human subjects vary among themselves. Therefore, it can be concluded that a combination of objective and subjective measuring techniques could be the valid approach to model the comfort of textile materials

Assessment and monitoring of antimalarial drug efficacy for the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria

Contributors: Peter Bloland, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States of America; Pascal Ringwald, Roll Back Malaria/Partnership Secretariat, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland; Robert W. Snow, University of Oxford, United Kingdom; Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi, KenyaWHO/HTM/RBM/2003.50who2003_monitoring.pd

The reliability of the newly developed bending tester for the measurement of flexural rigidity of textile materials

A new automated bending tester was developed in Ghent University, Belgium to reduce the human interference in the bending measurement. This paper reports the investigations made on the tester in order to confirm the reliability of its measurement. For that, 11 types of fabrics with different construction parameters were tested for their bending length and flexural rigidity using the new bending tester and the results were compared with that of the standard or manual bending tester, which were conducted in accordance with BS 3356:1990 standard method. Statistical analysis confirms that both measurements are strongly correlated with Pearson’s R≥ 0.90 for all the measurements made. It means that the results from the new automated tester show good correlations with the standard measurement. Nevertheless, this prototype version of the new tester still needs to be adjusted to optimise the functionality of it and further investigations should be done to justify the robustness of the results

Determination of comfort indices of fabrics using fabric touch tester (FTT)

Being comfortable with the fabrics that we are wearing is one of the elements of satisfaction in life. Hence, fabric comfort needs to be quantified in order to understand the factors that make it comfortable. However, the evaluation of comfort is often related to ambiguity and subjectivity which hinder the potential to be applied widely in the clothing industry. Therefore, this study aims to measure comfort indices of fabric by incorporating the use of a relatively new equipment in the market; Fabric Touch Tester (FTT). The performance of FTT in discriminating the hand of polyester-cotton knitted fabrics made of airjet, rotor, compact and ring-spun yarns with two levels of twist was analysed. The results indicate that the FTT device can successfully distinguish between the considered fabrics. From the generated models, the FTT indices and input variable relationship were obtained with 0.4-0.6 R2 value. The type of yarn has an obvious influence on fabric thermal conductivity while the levels of yarn twist considered moderately affected the compression recovery and surface friction properties of the fabrics. Based on the measured fabric indices, FTT also made predictions on comfort indices of the fabrics which shows low twisted compact yarns are the roughest with the lowest index 0.02 while airjet-based fabrics are the smoothest but hardest i.e. index 0.28 and 0.61 respectively. In comparison with other tested fabrics, ring-based fabrics are the softest; i.e. index 0.7. This suggests the feasibility of the instrument for tactile measurement of fabrics. However, the precision of the comfort prediction models of FTT needs to be validated by human panels or different measuring methods